Criteria for Heroes

For individuals to be seen as heroes in ancient world they had to meet specific criteria. Above all, a man needed to be a skilled warrior, who had to respect authority, both governmental and religious. Heroes were given no room for pride, they were to be modest, not only giving credit to their culture and the gods for any great deeds they had done, but also accepting everything that happened as fate, not scenarios they …

…and was very levelheaded. Achilles had great fighting skill as well. However, he had trouble respecting authority and keeping his cool, both results of his excessive pride. If Achilles had not been so prideful, he could have been a much greater warrior and hero, perhaps achieving status equal to the gods. He simply had too much pride. As desired, Gilgamesh learns to do good deeds, and this is truly all that society asks of anyone.